Kyle Petty Explains the Secret Behind Ryan Blaney’s Phoenix Dominance

Ex-racer Kyle Petty has shared his thoughts on the impressive Phoenix Cup Series race win from Ryan Blaney last Sunday.

Kyle Petty Explains the Secret Behind Ryan Blaney’s Phoenix Dominance

Ryan Blaney and Kyle Petty (Via @Blaney/X and IMAGO)

2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney continued his dominance at Phoenix Raceway, with a dominant win on Sunday. He overcomes to massive mistakes from his crew that send him to the back of the grid to secure the race win over Chrsitopher Bell, who had the fastest car of the day. It was no surprise though as the Ford has always showed up at the venue.

The No:12 racer has finished outside the top-5 at the venue just once since the start of the Next-Gen era, as he has an average finish of 5.2. Ex-racer Kyle Petty was pretty impressed with the Team Penske driver on his Inside the Race podcast explained how the extra corner speed the veteran has on the track helps him to thrive.

I think Blaney has always if you looked at… when you look at the Penske cars he just seems to carry corner speed like nobody else there can and has. And he carries corner speed at Phoenix, and that’s what you need.

Kyle Petty said on his podcast.

Ryan Blaney is more comfortable than anyone in the garage entering Phoenix corners with pace and that helps him to make a better exit, as well as accelerate better than his rivals on the straightway. According to Richard Petty’s son the Ford mustang extracted the most speed by wrapping the bottom on Sunday.

You need that corner speed, you need that entrance, that entrance to be able to get in and feel comfortable. But to be able to accelerate through the middle and off, and that’s where he carried it, and he carried it all day long today, and we saw it just wrapping the bottom, he could move up, but wrapping the bottom was where his speed was.

Ryan Blaney added via NASCAR Inside the Race.

NASCAR Insider explains Ryan Blaney’s evolution as a racer

In the latest episode of the Tear Down Podcast, senior NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck highlighted how Blaney is evolving as racer at the venue as well as other tracks. He feels the Penske driver is showing consistent and strong growth over the years.

Ryan Blaney
Ryan Blaney wins at Phoenix (Via @phoenixraceway/X)

Ryan Blaney really wanted to deliver that. Not a surprise that he did, of course, given his Phoenix dominance. I think you’re seeing a continued evolution of Ryan Blaney. You know, you look at the way that we look at the analytics, He’s, if not the best passer in the series, one of the best passers in the series.

Jeff Gluck said via The Tear Down Podcast.

Further talking about the point, the veteran reporter highlighted how Blaney has also become better controlling his frustrations. In the past radio rants were pretty common for the racer, but on Sunday, despite multiple mistakes from his crew, he held his cool and that might have helped him at the end to deliver the win.

We also saw evolution in that, like, ‘Hey, this is a guy who we know gets frustrated inside the car,’ right? We all hear it. He doesn’t think that he is more vocal on the radio than other drivers. He says they all do it. But, you know, if you listen to Ryan Blaney, he is probably the most vocal one. Sorry, Ryan.

Jeff Gluck added.

The comments from the insider are on point as Ryan Blaney has become more mature as a person as well as racer in the Next-Gen. It would be interesting to see how that evolution is going to help him in the long-run.

Also Read: Kyle Larson “Unhappy” With Phoenix Weekend Despite Season Best Finish